Should You Add Carson Steele, Roschon Johnson, Christian Watson, Other Dropped Fantasy Football Players?

Oftentimes, the best pickup of a fantasy football season isn’t a player who went undrafted. Instead, it’s someone who was originally selected but later dropped by an impatient manager after a bad week or two. It’s important to keep an eye on players being dropped in your individual leagues, but sometimes valuable players can slip through the cracks.

Luckily, the Fantasy Assistant is here to help. The Fantasy Assistant uses Predictive Analytics to calculate Expected Drop Interest (EDI) for every player each week. EDI is an estimation of the percentage of leagues in which a player will be or has been dropped each week. If you sync your fantasy league, you will be able to see which of those players have become available in your particular league. Here are this week’s leaders in EDI:

Spoiler alert, but this is a relatively unexciting week of EDI leaders. I’m only going to recommend adding one of the top five players in EDI. However, there is one truly shocking player with an EDI above 5%, which is always fun to see. 

Also, as is often the case with the beginning of bye weeks, there are a few must-roster players who are being dropped in occasional leagues. I’ve listed these players at the end of the article. Let’s get started!   

Carson Steele, Kansas City Chiefs

Steele is far and away this week’s leader with 14% EWI. As a huge believer in Steele following the injury to Isiah Pacheco injury, it pains me to say this, but you don’t have to add him if he has been dropped in your league. After fumbling on his first carry of the game, Steele finished Sunday with just three touches on an 18% snap share.

In deeper leagues, Steele is still a rosterable player. Kareem Hunt, who took over as the Chiefs’ lead back following the rookie’s fumble, was hugely inefficient last year. The 29-year-old was fine in his first game back with KC, but he is likely to slow down at some point. If that happens, Steele may get another crack at a valuable role in this offense. Still, he is absolutely not a must-roster at this point. 

Roschon Johnson, Chicago Bears

Johnson, on the other hand, is a player I would rush to add if he was dropped in your league. It is true that the idea that he would be the Bears’ lead back in Week 4 was clearly false. Instead, D’Andre Swift had by far his best of the season, while Johnson saw just seven carries on a 37% snap share. 

However, Johnson’s role did actually expand on Sunday. He claimed the short-yardage and goal-line work previously reserved for Khalil Herbert. Meanwhile, Swift’s big game is a clear outlier in a long history of rushing inefficiency. At the very least, taking Herbert’s goal-line work makes Johnson a very valuable handcuff, as he would monopolize key touches if Swift were to go down. But there’s also still a real chance he eventually plays a lead role even with Swift healthy; it may just come later than we briefly expected.    

Christian Watson, Green Bay Packers

This is a straightforward case of a player being dropped as a result of an injury. Watson suffered an ankle early in the Packers’ Week 4 matchup and is reportedly expected to miss at least a week. 

However, Watson’s injury seems to be short-term; the Packers have not yet placed him on IR. Normally, I would recommend jumping on an injured player to stash for later in the season. The issue is, Watson was already on the fringe of rosterability prior to his injury. In Week 3, his last healthy week, Watson posted just a 48% route participation rate, losing snaps to Dontayvion Wicks. Given his role will likely be part-time even when he gets healthy, Watson can be left on the wire in most leagues.

Mike Gesicki, Cincinnati Bengals

Gesicki is another player not to chase on the waiver wire. For the season, his route participation rate is just 50.3%. With rookie Erick All flashing talent and Tee Higgins back healthy, that number is only going to trend in the wrong direction. Even with TE production hard to find, a player with that limited a role is not worth rostering. 

Isaiah Likely, Baltimore Ravens

Speaking of TEs with limited roles, we have Isaiah Likely. I covered Likely in-depth in last week’s article, as his roster percentage just keeps falling week over week following his Week 1 breakout. After another week in which his route participation rate failed to crack 50% (and he caught just one of two targets), Likely is still not a must-add. 

Jaylen Waddle, Miami Dolphins

You read that right. Jaylen Waddle has an EDI of 5%, meaning a non-negligible amount of fantasy managers are planning on dropping the early-round pick. To be fair, Waddle is just the WR50 so far this season, and his performances since Tua Tagovailoa was sidelined have been utterly useless.

However, Waddle is simply too talented a player to leave on waivers. If yours is one of the leagues in which he was dropped, this is one of those situations where you blow your entire FAAB budget; trade for more FAAB to ensure you win the bid, if you have to.  

Cam Akers, Houston Texans

With Joe Mixon and/or Dameon Pierce both likely to return, Akers returns to handcuff status. Given we still aren’t sure how he and Pierce would split work if Mixon were to go down again, Akers isn’t even a top-tier handcuff. He can be left on waivers in all but the deepest of leagues. 

Quentin Johnston, Los Angeles Chargers

I’ve been a believer in the QJ renaissance early this season, but things seem to be trending the wrong way for the sophomore. Obviously, a lot of his fantasy production has been based on touchdowns. And, after easily leading the Chargers in routes over the first three weeks, he posted just a 69% route participation rate in Week 4. Given that the Chargers have been a very run-heavy team thus far, he’s unlikely to reach fantasy viability without a clear WR1 role. He can still be held in deep leagues, but it’s not a mistake to leave Johnston on waivers in most formats. 

Other Players With Positive EDI To Check For On Waivers

• WR Rome Odunze, Chicago Bears

• WR Calvin Ridley, Tennessee Titans

• QB Anthony Richardson, Indianapolis Colts

• WR Jakobi Meyers, Las Vegas Raiders

• RB Braelon Allen, New York Jets

• RB Jonathon Brooks, Carolina Panthers

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